Slicing Pretty Avocados
A quick video demonstrating how to slice avocado to fan out on grain bowls, salads, and open-faced sandwiches.
This post is for anyone who has ever asked me how I slice avocado. I get the question most often on Instagram (they show up in a lot of my photos), and thinking about it now, I suppose I do have pretty strong opinions about how to go about it. I like the slices thin versus thick, sometimes fanned out a bit (but not too much ;). And minimal fussing and handling is key.
In the video below, you'll notice that I do all the slicing with the avocado in my palm. It's not the safest method (by a long shot), and it's actually not how you should go about it. That said, I do include a demonstration of another, less perilous method, with very similar results later in the video. Avocado injuries can be serious. A couple of tips I forgot to mention - you want to use beautifully, perfectly ripe avocados, and a small knife. If you have a hard time choosing avocados, I posted some avocado buying tips on this page a while back, and it's still true that I spend more time choosing the avocados for guacamole than actually preparing it. Have fun and send pics! -h
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Excellent video! Thanks for sharing your technique. Do you have any recommendations for how to pick out an ‘unripe’ avocado in the store? Sometimes they turn into a nice green (no blemishes) avocado on the inside, and sometimes there are splotches of black. Thanks!
I love your videos, and have gotten great inspiration from your recipes/books/website! I have to say I cringed at first when I saw the video but am so grateful you also demonstrated how easy it is to do on a cutting board, and that you expressed caution. In my first restaurant cooking job, I was rapidly removing the cores from a case of radicchio — I was using a little paring knife, and holding the heads in a similar fashion to how you held the avocado. Someone bumped me from behind, I flinched, the knife slipped, and the next thing you know I was headed to nearly 5 hours of surgery to reconnect the sliced tendons in two fingers! I shouldn’t be able to move the fingers in my left hand, but years of physical therapy and hours or piano practice helped. Still, it took nearly 20 years to comfortably open and close my hand. You clearly have good knife skills but for the typical home cook, I’d just say please be careful! Accidents can happen, especially if you don’t know how to properly handle a knife, and it’s surprising how many people never learn. I have to say though, those thin little slices look great!
Raises hand high (and hi!) as one of those folks who always wanted to know how you did that. Thanks for sharing Heidi, great video!
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